hillarycopsey's reviews
883 reviews

Guide Me Home by Attica Locke

3.5

This all felt a little rushed, a little too reliant on the past, though I appreciated the tying up of loose ends from previous books. 

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

5.0

Every time I read this book, I like it a little more. It's wasted on high-schoolers. 

The Float Test by Lynn Steger Strong

3.5

Slow but compelling family drama. I always leave Strong’s novels a little unsatisfied, but in a way that feels like a testament to their veracity. 

Stop Me If You've Heard This One by Kristen Arnett

4.5

Deeply unsubtle but satisfying, poignant and funny. Arnett gets so much right — about Florida, about working class people, about grief. Really loved this one. 

Flirting With Disaster by Naina Kumar

4.0

I really liked this. The closed setting — they’re trapped in a hurricane — really works to focus the story on these people and why they fell apart, how they might come back together.  I was thinking that readers who get frustrated when characters don’t just talk about things might have mixed results here. They do talk; they just don’t always hear what the other means because they’re so caught up in their own narrative. I found it to be realistic; others might find it a different kind of frustrating. 

The Love Lyric by Kristina Forest

4.0

Delightful

Black Woods, Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey

4.0

Ivey's books often feel like strange fables or fairytales, and this one is that from the start. It was so sad, a tragedy in so many ways, and I keep thinking about what it might have been an allegory for.  

Twilight Sleep by Edith Wharton

4.0

A novel about the hypocrisies and nihilism of modern culture, this book felt shockingly relevant 100 years after its publication, right down to the casual racism and anti-semitism. 

Here for a Good Time by Pyae Moe Thet War

3.0

I really appreciated the twist from contemporary romance to adventure/thriller. But the writing and pacing needed to be a little tighter for me. Because the romance is so clearly telegraphed (and the red herring love interests never fooled me), the emotional reveals happened so late they felt rushed and redundant. The thriller portion raises interesting issues about gentrification and the exploitations of tourism, but also felt rushed. 

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy. 

Liars by Sarah Manguso

2.0

Unrelentingly bleak.